Highlights from WWDC 2015

WWDC is Apple’s worldwide developer’s conference where Apple’s developer community comes together to learn about the future of IOS and OS X. Members of Apple’s all-star-staff reveal new products and services that will roll out to the public during the course of the next year. So many announcements were made, we thought it would be a good idea to highlight key points while linking out for more information below.

An Improved OS X, El Capitan

OS X 10.11, otherwise known as El Capitan, is more about tweaking the OS X experience and improving performance than redesigning the whole interface. Safari, for example, now allows you to “pin” sites, so they’ll load instantly from the landing page. It also lets you mute audio in tabs without entering specific pages. Spotlight allows you more extensive and integrated search capabilities: you can look up sporting event tickets, weather, and upcoming events using natural language. Improved windows management means that you can automatically split your screen between apps and store multiple desktop layouts in a navigation bar on top. And Metal, the optimization tool Apple first introduced for mobile processors last year, will supposedly now give El Capitan a performance boost.

Introducing iOS 9

Much like the new version of OS X, iOS 9 is less about radical change than making refinements. The Notes app is gaining more functionality (like drawing!), while Passbook has become “Wallet.” Newsstand has become “News.” HealthKit tracks more data, including UV exposure and menstrual cycles. iOS 9 is supposed to even take up less space on your iPhone, and it offers a “low power mode” to squeeze three extra hours out of the battery. The iPad, meanwhile, has new productivity options — among other things, users can open two apps side-by-side on a single iPad Air 2. Developers can get their hands on all the new features when Apple drops the public beta — its first ever for iOS — in July. The final version will be available in the fall.

Say Hello to watchOS 2

Less than two months into its life, the Apple Watch has a new operating system: watchOS 2. It has some more options for watch faces, including the cutely named “Time Travel,” which gives you an overview of upcoming events in addition to what’s going on at the moment. There’s a little bit more interactivity overall — you can, say, reply to emails instead of just reading them. Developers will have more control; they can make apps that play back video and audio using the watch speakers, and there’s full support for HealthKit and HomeKit. Naturally, some of the latest improvements to iOS 9 — like transit directions in Maps — cross over to the Apple Watch as well. Developers have access to the latest watchOS today; like iOS 9, it’s coming to consumers in the fall.

One More Thing… Welcome to Apple Music.

Apple saved its new music service for the end of its keynote, and even dusted off the Jobs-era saying for its debut. At first blush, it sounds like Apple Music has all the necessary features. You can stream your favorite artists, watch music videos and exclusive clips in HD, and listen to curated playlists. There’s also a feature (called “Connect”) that lets unsigned artists upload their music. Apple’s even created a global radio station called Beats 1 and hired Zane Lowe to run it. You get all that for $9.99 per month, and there’s also a $14.99 family plan option that lets you share Apple Music with up to five other people. That gives Apple a slight edge when it comes to pricing, but Jimmy Iovine, Drake, and Tim Cook didn’t mention much else that sounds all that different from the services Apple Music will compete against. It will be available on iOS starting June 30th and — maybe most importantly — it’s also coming to Android this fall.

There appears to be a widespread issue with the critical update released today for Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, version 14.5.0. The problem is with Outlook specifically, causing users to no longer be able to open a window for email, contacts, etc. Apparently, this is a bug that has already been fixed once, that has resurfaced somehow in this update.

We do not know if this affects Windows users, but we do know that Microsoft is aware of the matter. So, it’s safe to assume that Microsoft is already working on an update to this update. That said, we advise all users not to update to 14.5.0 to avoid any problems in workflow until the patch is available.

We will keep you all posted once there is more information available. In the meantime, feel free to monitor the discussion about this topic over at the Apple message board here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7040301

UPDATE: Microsoft has finally released an update to the problematic update here: Office Update 14.5.1

April 21, 2015, was the day hyped by many as Mobilepocalypse and Mobilgeddon. Google announced that they will be using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal in driving search results to users. In the announcement, Google’s Webmaster Central Blog states:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

The above statement means mobile-friendly and mobile-responsive sites will earn better positioning in Google’s mobile search engine results, but most importantly, sites that are not optimized for mobile will see less mobile, organic traffic. This and subsequent updates that will follow strongly signal that Google will not only be protective of the quality of the results it serves across devices but the quality of those experiences as well. More and more people access the web on mobile devices, and it is Google’s pledge to return what is relevant and user-friendly to searchers.

Google has created a series of tools to help identify the mobile readiness of a site and also the steps needed to remediate any existing mobile site issues. One such resource is the Mobile-Friendly Test tool now available. Try it here: Google Mobile Friendly Test

Google has been telling webmasters to prepare for mobile for years. Thanks to this announcement of the Mobile Search update, many webmasters now have a compelling reason to take action. We anticipated this, and it’s the reason why we’ve recently updated our own website here at tekwerx.com to a mobile friendly version.

tekwerx.com is now mobile friendly!

For sites that already utilize a mobile responsive technology, there are still many elements of a mobile site that should be optimized to take full advantage of this mobile search update. Even with technology that adapts sites to mobile screen dimensions, there are still areas in a mobile sites code that should be enhanced to best suit the mobile search crawlers.

Some businesses still don’t have a website, and this is something you should definitely keep in mind if you’re considering having one made moving forward. Others had their website created years ago, and while they certainly served their desired purpose, we recommend adapting to the current changes to stay relevant…your competition surely will. Don’t get left behind. Contact us or call (248) 850-1424 to see how we can help!

Sometimes change is a good thing. While the old version of the tekwerx.com site served its purpose well, we are excited to announce a new and improved website redesign for 2015…after weeks of fine-tuning and tweaking.

Some of the new features include:

• A responsive design that morphs to compliment the device (computer, tablet or smartphone) you are using to view the site.

• A blog that we intend to update regularly featuring articles related to current trends in the ever-changing world of technology.